So the odds
by Shini-666
Summary: Life was bad enough for Sadie, being the rookie of the station, and she still hadn't completed the police academy yet! Now she has to deal with Detective Prowl too.
1. The day to day

An engine knock

Okay so….

For those of you who've been waiting for an update for 'Serendipity'…I'm sorry! ;; I don't know when I'll get around to that story as it's become a pain. I might just rewrite it from the beginning because…well I'm not happy with it.

But look! I give you new story! With Prowl!

What can I say? I'm on a Prowl kick. Hopefully I don't make him to OOC. If I do please let me know.

This is my first Holoformers fic, yes they have their robotic forms, but they have physical, holoforms as well. This will be a loooooong 'finding out' fic if everything goes according to plans. In fact the 'finding out' doesn't occur until one of the last few chapters, the way my outline has it.

So you have been warned.

Aslo! If you've read my previous fic you know where I stand, this will not be a transformer x human fic, no interstellar relationships going on here. If there is any sort of relationship it's purely platonic. Sorry you all you shippers out there.

So….on with the show!

--

An offer.

An order.

No, in the grand scheme of things, the one event that set everything into motion was simply:

An engine knock.

An engine knock wasn't a particularly important event. It was troublesome sure, expensive to fix, certainly, however on a scale of life changing events it ranked very low on the list.

Unless you happened to be Sadie Quick.

The work week had started off routinely enough, her usual nine to five shifts, save for the days that work carried on a little longer. Those were never good days-not because she wanted to leave, or had any pressing engagements to attend to; in fact it was usually the opposite. Those days were bad because, if she had extra work to attend to, that meant crime was on the rise.

You see at 23 years old Sadie worked for the Nevada State Police in a North West precinct. She wasn't a cop by any means, a CSI, complete with a recently acquired degree in criminology. There were only three things that made her job less than pleasant.

One:

She had yet to graduate from the police academy so her title remained only as CSI until she had her certificate of completion. Getting that required she complete the obstacle course in a predetermined amount of time that, thus far, she'd never come close to meeting. Until then she was stuck working the crime scenes, she couldn't even interrogate suspects, definitely not like the TV shows.

Two:

As one of the station's 'rookies' she was subject to as much torture and annoyances as her coworkers and superiors could come up with. A cubical rather than a proper office to work out of, constant jabs about not only being new to the force, but being a woman as well. Being new basically meant you had to be the stations bitch. It was, like, an official rule, or something.

Three:

Detective Prowl.

He too was new to the force; or at least new to this station anyway, as far as she knew no one was certain exactly where he'd transferred from and he never really gave up much personal information. Trying to get an answer out of Prowl that he didn't want to give was like…well it was like trying to get an answer from a brick wall. Only the brick wall was probably nicer, and had a much better personality.

Oh, now don't get her wrong. Prowl had personally done nothing to warrant her ill wishes towards him, rather it was the actions of all the other cops at the station that caused it. Everyone respected Prowl, hell _she_ respected Prowl, secretly wondering all the while how he'd managed to become top dog in the station in the span of only a few short months.

Over the course of that time they'd spoken briefly, and when they did it always concerned a case. Usually he'd approach and question her, wanting her opinion of the crime scene, which was pointless really, opinions didn't stand up to cold hard facts. The last time this occurred it hadn't exactly ended pretty.

Only one week after their heated encounter, her station assigned SUV had decided to go on strike and began to knock. The mechanic had stated that it would be out of commission for at least a week, unfortunately without her police academy diploma she couldn't legally drive an actual patrol car and it was against regulation to drive her own vehicle while on duty. Thus, she'd ended up hitching rides to and from the crime scenes.

When Prowl approached her during the next case things hadn't gone well, and merely went down hill since then. As always he questioned her opinion on the murder tool, location, and motive. He interrogated her as he might a neighbor or relative of the dearly departed for information. That in and of itself wasn't annoying, what bothered her was the fact that Prowl always played the devil's advocate, no matter what comment she made he answered with another question, or pointed out some flaw in her thinking.

Already angered from the news about her SUV she'd walked out on the detective, it wasn't her case anyway, she was just helping out to log the evidence. Without a care she hitched a ride back to the station and tried to complete the Prowl voodoo doll she'd been secretly working on. Okay so she didn't really have a Prowl voodoo doll…but it'd be nice.

…It'd be even better if said doll actually worked.

The following two days she made it a point to avoid Prowl, well it wasn't that difficult, the Detective wasn't even looking for her, but it helped her pass the time and feel better about the situation.

It was then that, two days later, she found herself in a dire situation. "But Captain-"

"Don't you but Captain me. Car or not, it's your turn, besides its not exactly far." He commented in response, frowning at the look she was giving him, "On top of that, if you'd just pass the academy you could take one of the patrol cars." Ouch. That stung a bit, "You've really got no one to blame but yourself."

Sighing in defeat she only gave him a light glare before taking the offered money, collected from most of the crew working. "I hope you like cold pizza." She commented before heading back to her desk, cubicle…thing.

Pausing only long enough to grab her cell phone she headed for the door, frowning at the man blocking her way. "CSI Quick?" The speaker was what you would describe as 'Tall, Dark and Handsome'. His hair was jet black, topping off his stature of somewhere over 6' she wasn't sure exactly where he stood but it was definitely taller than her own 5'4". His features weren't to hard, nor soft, _matured_ was a good description for them. His eyes, now there was an interesting feature; despite his dark hair, his eyes were a soft blue. Every time she saw those eyes her mother's words came back, a man's best features were his eyes; she hadn't fallen for her dad's good looks, money, or nice body. Nope, her mother had fallen for her father's eyes, and made sure to remind her of that each and every time they talked.

Needless to say, she didn't tell her mother that the man who owned this pair of baby blues was currently the man she wanted nothing to do with.

She mentally tried to count to ten but didn't get passed five, "Yes Detective Prowl?"

"May I offer you a ride?"

Emerald eyes narrowed on the man, "What's the catch?"

He was silent for several seconds before giving the barest of smiles, "I don't like cold pizza." It came off almost as if a question, as if wondering if that excuse would work, it did. Much as she wanted nothing to do with the detective, she wasn't about to turn down a free ride.

Chewing on her bottom lip for a second she nodded, "Alright. Thanks Prowl." Hey, so what if she wasn't so angry now? She was getting a ride after all, and she was a woman, they were prone to, and allowed to have, sudden mood swings.

Following the man to his car she briefly frowned at the differences between them. As a Detective, Prowl wasn't forced to wear a uniform as long as he dressed professionally. At the moment the man was dressed in a pair of dark slacks, coat forgotten in the heat, with a white button up shirt adorned by a navy blue tie. As always the male seemed to hold himself in the highest possible standards.

As for herself she wore a pair of khaki pants and a Nevada State Police navy blue t-shirt, complete with collar and the words 'CSI' branded on the back. Her blonde hair was pulled up in a tight bun that let a few curls fall loose. Nevada was far too hot to be wearing her hair down.

She wasn't sure if it was the gentleman inside him, or if he was just trying to tick her off but, as he'd done in the past, Prowl opened the passenger door for her when they reached his patrol car. Sliding in she did have to marvel at the car, it too was something of the highest standards, a Dodge Charger that was always in pristine condition. It too was a thing of mystery, it seemed Prowl had brought the vehicle with him from where ever he'd come, it certainly wasn't at the station prior to his transfer.

Sinking back into the leather seat however, she wasn't complaining.

Once he'd circled the car and climbed in their short journey began, unfortunately it wasn't going to be as easy as she'd first assumed. "I would like to apologize. I seem to have upset you in some way." He began, eyes never leaving the road.

She sighed and glanced out the side window, why couldn't he be like every other man and just let it drop? Like a good, typical guy? Why couldn't he just stew on the fact that she was mad and let it go? No, he had to be the nice guy and apologize. "It's…" She paused, realizing she wasn't sure just what it was. "Prowl I'm not…Look it's been a bad couple of weeks and I've just been snapping at everyone. Don't…don't take it personally okay? I'm just being an A-typical woman." She commented offering a slight smile in hopes of breezing over the topic.

Prowl was silent for several seconds, only giving a light nod in response, as if processing the information. "I hope that we will be able to work together on future cases."

"Yeah… sure, me too." Despite usually playing the devil's advocate when they worked together, Prowl was one of the nicer Detectives. Sure he was strict and by the books, but he didn't go out of his way to make her life hell…most of the time. "Hey Prowl?"

"Hm?"

"When I pass the academy…will you let me drive your patrol car? Just once?" It was no secret that most of the force wanted to get their hands on Prowls car.

"…Perhaps."

Well that was certainly something to look forward to.


	2. Murder in the First

A week later found Sadie hard at work at her newest crime scene; having arrived there compliments of Prowl

Woot second chapter.

I have two replies already? And the story isn't even 2,000 words long yet XD You guys rock. I give you credit, I rarely check out stories unless their 10,000 words at least. Just cause…well I dunno, they take up more time? Then again it is cool to follow a story chapter by chapter too…

Gah I'm indecisive!

And sick x.x

And being attacked by foster dogs. Yup. You read it. Foster dogs.

My foster dog kicks your honor roll student's ass. Okay maybe not.

On with the show!

--

A week later found Sadie hard at work at her newest crime scene; having arrived there compliments of Prowl. She had to smile at that, far as she knew she'd been the only one thus far to have had more than one ride in the Detective's state of the art car.

That meant she had complete bragging rights. Considering she was still a rookie, having anything to brag about in the office was well…okay so yes, she wanted to brag about having something to brag about! Was that really so bad? Sure a Dodge Charger wasn't the rarest car on the force, there were a range of Mustangs, Saleens--in Europe she heard they even had some Lambos on the force (What she wouldn't give to ride in one of those). Despite all of that the Charger was definitely up there.

Of course she wasn't a car buff by any means, in fact she'd been rather proud of herself when she'd replaced the headlight on her own Geo Prism, AKA the go kart on wheels, but she did know a nice car when she saw one.

Despite the State Police colors being blue and gold Prowl's unit was rather old school. The vehicle was black save for around the doors where white dominated the frame. Being a Detective's vehicle the car's lights were completely built in, no obnoxious rack of lights was mounted on the top of the car. That, along with the fact that there were no "Police" symbols on the car, made it an unmarked as far as record keeping went. Nope, Prowls car had no State Police crest, no unit number, no catchy station phrase like "We'll kick your ass…and take your doughnuts too!"

Instead it had a simple "To protect and serve" written in an elegant font, and located on both sides of the car, just beneath the rear doors. Adoring the front doors on either side was a symbol she wasn't familiar with, if she had to describe it…well it was red for one thing, stark contrast to the black and white, and even the blue lettering of the words. And it sort of resembled a sad face, perhaps those little lines were tears?

Bah. Any attempt to pry an answer from Prowl about it was useless, she knew. Better men had tried and failed.

At the moment however, she was taking a swab from a patch of dried blood on the kitchen floor, bagging and labeling it to be tested back in the lab later. Yeah, the job definitely wasn't as glorified as TV made it appear.

After all, the stench of blood and of the dead never came through your TV's speakers.

"CSI Quick?"

She couldn't help the brief smile, Prowl was always so formal, it was commendable, really it was. "Yes Detective Prowl?" She questioned in returned, glancing up at him for a moment before shifting to file the recently collected evidence away in a manila envelope.

"Have you any theories on this case?"

Pulling out her trusted sharpie she carefully labeled the envelope before adding it to a crate of similarly marked evidence, moving to stand she sighed, "You and I both know theories do not make a conviction. Facts do."

He nodded in response, "Well organized theories can speculate about the truth, and there will always be evidence to support what actually occurred."

Silent for a moment she turned, leaning her back against the kitchen counter and crossing her arms as it seemed the discussion was unavoidable. "I don't think the Vic knew her attacker."

"Ninety five percent of all violent crimes are committed by someone the victim knows." There we go, as always Prowl was countering her opinions.

Sighing she tried not to let it bug her, "And five percent don't. It's not impossible to think that we've got one of those cases on our hands."

"It's improbable." He pointed out.

She nodded, conceding, "I'll give you that."

"So what leads you to this conclusion?"

Sadie frowned a little, at the moment she had no real evidence to support it, just a hunch. "I don't know Prowl." She shrugged, "This area isn't exactly known for violent crimes, and to have two murders in the span of a month? Within ten miles of each other?"

He nodded in response, familiar with the second case she was referring to. A twelve year old girl had been found dead, her body violated, and left to rot in some under brush, yards away from a playground.

The current case they were working on involved an elderly woman, killed in her own house. Thus far there appeared to be no invasion, and a lot more blood than the first murder. The only connection Sadie could draw from the two so far was that both women had been violated before death.

"You're making quite a leap." He responded, with only one point relating the two crimes it was a stretch. "It could be a copy cat. We still have very few leads on the first killer, a second might have acted seeing that we have yet to capture the first."

"I know that Prowl." She sighed once more in defeat, "I never said I was right, I just gave you my opinion." Yet again he had an alternate answer for everything.

Watching her for a few tense moments he motioned for her to follow as he led the way into one of the unused bedrooms. "Blood trails show us that the Perp left through the back door, however his entrance…" Trailing off he motioned to the window ledge. An old rusting lock had been broken off, based off the paint chips surrounding the area they could assume it had happened relatively recently. Lab tests would confirm it.

Sadie nearly beamed, "That's why there's blood on the lock as well as the door handle. The Perp wasn't stumbling, he was unlocking the door!" If the victim knew the Perp, why go to such lengths to sneak in? Why not knock and have her unlock the door and invite him in?

"This could support your theory that she did not know her attacker." Prowl stated, the Detective seemed to be commending her earlier theories.

Despite how she thought she'd react to Prowl giving her what could be considered a compliment, she wasn't thrilled, "Or it could mean that she knew her killer, and didn't want to let him in, hence why the doors were locked." Great now she was working against herself!

Prowls only response was a brief smile, "A good Detective thinks of every possibility, not just the one they believe is right." He commented, again seeming to compliment her reasoning thus far. A call from outside the room had Prowl excusing himself though, as Sadie got back to work documenting the break in location.

After a few minutes of working in peace she was joined again by the raven haired male, "We've got all we can from the scene. Do you need me to send a ride for you?" Ah the joys of being a Detective. You only had to stick around long enough to hear the ME's initial thoughts on cause of death, and the CSI's theories on what went down. After that you could rush away from the scene to begin questioning everyone and their brothers until you had a suspect.

"No, thanks anyway Prowl, there's still a lot of work to process. I can…" She paused, it really wasn't her favorite outcome but she supposed there wasn't really any avoiding it. "I'll just hitch a ride back with Jacobs." She wasn't particularly fund of Jacobs, a sergeant at the station, known for bringing in his arrestees a bit roughed up more often than not. If Prowl was rough around the edges than Jacob was the devil incarnate and unfortunately he was the officer assigned to over look the crime scene.

Hesitating a moment Prowl silently deliberated before nodding. The few cases they'd worked on in the past he hadn't failed to notice that she avoided the quick to anger officer, it was his job to notice the little things and he prided himself on doing so. "I've got a friend in the area. I'll have him pick you up when you're ready. Just call me." His words sounded like more of an order, after all as CSI when she was done with the scene it was pretty much time for everyone to pack up. If anything Jacobs would be waiting for her, not the other way around.

"Thank you Prowl but I can take care of myself." She commented, voice a bit more on edge than she would have liked, deciding to get the last word in she turned back to her work, "Now go play twenty questions with the grieving family." She waved him off.

It wasn't long after Prowls departure that she heard another enter the room behind her. The house was old and the wood floors creaked under the weight, she didn't have to wait long to find out who it was, "Makes you wonder if she heard him coming." Jacobs voice broke the silence as he purposely shifted again, causing the wood to sound out in protest.

"She might have been hard of hearing, won't know 'til we get a hold of her medical records." She responded, already she'd finished taking photos with the digital camera and was beginning the more basic, but court friendly Polaroid's.

"Stop me if I'm wrong but didn't the murder happen in the other room?" He questioned, voice holding an unknown tone. To Sadie it sounded as if he was mocking her, sure the room appeared clean, but as Prowl had proven, that didn't mean there weren't clues.

"We've got a possible entrance here. The lock's broken off and the paint chips are relatively fresh." As she spoke she snapped pictures of the area, making sure to document it well before moving on to the next step. "Hopefully I'll be able to lift a print."

Jacobs frowned behind her, "Heard you and the other's CSI's didn't do so well with the Murphy case, think you'll be luckier this time?" The Murphy case was the one she'd mentioned earlier, about the child found near the park, the lack of evidence at the crime scene had been devastating. No one wanted a child killer on the loose, let alone one who defiled the body first.

"It's not a matter of getting lucky Jacobs. The evidence is there, and when we find it we'll have our criminal." She commented even as she dusted the ledge in hopes of finding a fingerprint, frowning when she came up with no results, just like the kitchen door had resulted in no prints.

Sighing she sat back, only to grit her teeth when he spoke up again, "Yeah you let me know when you get lucky." With that he thankfully took his leave.

She wasn't sure why Jacobs upset her so much. Oh wait, yes she was. He was an egotistical, self centered, men-are-better-than-women old school prick. He didn't think women had a place in the station, and he didn't take the CSI job seriously. That meant Sadie had two strikes against her and he made sure to remind her of that fact over and over again.

Of course with fifteen years service time at the station, any complaints she want to file against him wouldn't be taken all that seriously.

Or perhaps this all stemmed back to the eyes. As mentioned Prowl's were blue, a soft, inviting blue. Sure they could make you uncomfortable at times, when they seemed focus on you and nothing else, as if Prowl were picking you apart right there and then, but regardless of all that, they were what she'd call honest eyes. She rolled her own eyes, yes; eyes were the window to the soul the brighter the eyes, the more open their soul. The darker the shade, the more they had to hide. If you hadn't guessed, Jacobs' eyes were a rather dark shade of hazel.

This didn't mean she distrusted everyone who happened to be born with dark colored eyes no, even the darker shade could shine bright, and even light shades could seem dark. There was just something you could tell by staring someone straight in the eyes. She groaned, great, her mother had forever corrupted her, there really was far too much focus on eyes right now.

Focusing on her work she finished up in only a little time and began moving things outside, boxes of packaged evidence, as well as tools they'd used to gather it. "Heard you and Prowl talking." Great was it bug the CSI day?

"Your point Jacobs?"

"Nothing. Just saying. Better watch what you're saying. Making comments like that, connecting crime scenes? I've seen better officers go down for less."

She frowned, "Thank you for the concern Jacobs. I'll keep that in mind when I'm not talking to the media. That's you're job isn't it?" Setting a box down she turned and paused when she found him blocking her path. The stare off occurred for several seconds before she finally caved, "Okay. I get it. We've got nothing to base a connection on." That wasn't entirely true, they did have rape which occurred at both scenes. "I told Prowl to begin with that it was just a hunch, but he was right, it's probably just a copy cat killer."

It took a moment but he seemed appeased by her answer and stepped aside, allowing her to get back to her work. The media that had gathered some distance away at the edge of the property began to call out questions and flag the officer over. As normal Jacobs moved to handle the media questions with evasive answers.

Heading back inside she wasted no time pulling out her cell phone and bringing up Prowls number. She didn't have it for personal use, when your job took you all over the tri-county area and you needed to get in contact with people who were in similar situations, having cell phone numbers helped. A lot.

Frowning when it eventually rang straight to voicemail she flipped it shut and silently promised death on the Detective next time she saw him. So much for a ride.

Grabbing the last crate of manila envelopes she sighed as she headed back outside, only to hurry her pace when she saw a stranger standing by the stack of carefully collected evidence. "Hey! Don't touch that!" The last thing she needed on her record was the fact that she'd let evidence become contaminated by John Doe on the street.

When the man turned to her she finally took note of the uniform he wore and relaxed slightly. He waved and smiled in a friendly manner, even as he stepped away from her evidence pile. "Sorry about that. Your friend over there already cleared me and I figured waiting here would be the easiest way to find you."

"You're…"

"Prowl's friend. Ratchet." He introduced himself holding out a hand in offer which she took only after setting the last crate down.

"I'm Sadie…" She responded a bit hesitant, "I didn't actually get a hold of Prowl…" She trailed off clearly seeking an explanation.

"He called to find out if I'd have a problem with picking you up, I was already in the area so I figured I'd just make my way over here." Ah, that was perfectly logical. "Do you need any help?"

She shook her head deftly, "No, that's the last of it. Just…give me a minute?" He nodded and motioned to his waiting vehicle. Making her way to Jacobs she pulled him away from the prying media after a few minutes of coaxing, "I'm all set here, and I've got a ride back to the station. Do you want me to…?"

He glanced over to the crates briefly before shaking his head, "There's not a lot, don't worry, I'll pack everything up and see you back at the station." She thanked him, one of the few times she ever had, and made her way from the scene, making sure to state 'no comment' to any questions the reporters sent in her direction.

Honestly she didn't know what to make of her ride, er Ratchet. Must stop referring to people as 'rides' even though that was the service they were providing. Briefly she wondered if that was his last name or a nick name. Bah who knew? Like Prowl he was older and taller, both men ranked in the 6' range and appeared to be in their late twenties, early thirties. The medic, she classified, after all he was wearing a county EMS uniform and driving a Search and Rescue, or SAR, Hummer, had sandy blonde hair, a lighter shade than her own. If she had to guess she'd say he was of European decent but in today's world it was easy to be wrong.

The oddest feature were his eyes, a similar shade of blue that seemed to hold the same spark that Prowl's did, odd because they really shared no other similar feature other than their eyes. The only difference between the Detective and Medic eyes was that Ratchet's were framed by a thin pair of glasses that seemed to compliment his features. Ha! And people said glasses were ugly, they definitely made the medic's face, if anything they made his features stand out more. They seemed to draw you to his eyes.

Gah. She really needed to stop thinking about eyes. Honestly. This is why she was still single.

Approaching the brightly colored Hummer she smiled as he pushed off from his place, leaning against the side and opened the door for her. "Did you teach Prowl his manners or the other way around?" She questioned in her way of thanking him for the gesture as she climbed in.

Ratchet only chuckled as he rounded the vehicle and likewise climbed in, "We learned from a mutual source." He offered in response.

"Ah, well, either way, thanks for the lift."

He smiled as he pulled onto the road, only briefly taking his gaze from the street to glance over, "Prowl says you are quite the up and coming Detective." Ah yes, a conversation opener.

She snorted softly in response, "Hardly. CSI. Just a CSI. I go I log the information, collect the evidence, and complete the lab tests. No Detective work for me."

"Don't most Detectives begin either as regular officers or CSI's such as you?"

Sadie nodded lightly in response, "But all of them pass the academy."

"Ah, well you've got plenty of time to do that and you'll already have the experience for when you finally do."

She smiled in response and the rest of the ride was spent in pleasant conversation. Little did she know that, at that very moment in time, stretching the farthest reaches of the galaxies and back, that she was one of the very few people alive who thought Ratchet could ever be classified as a 'nice guy'. Perhaps this had something to do with the fact that she was not in need of medical attention. Or perhaps Ratchet was simply in a good mood because the twins had yet to make it planet side. Or even still, perhaps it was because Ratchet didn't have a wrench or other tool within reach that he could invariably launch at some offenders cranium.

Whatever the case, her opinion wouldn't last too long.

--

Reviews are always loved. Constructive criticism is adored.

All I have to say is, keep in mind, I'm writing this as a pass time, I know it's not perfect.

And yes. There is a patrol car that says 'We'll kick your ass and take your doughnuts too.' Google it.

Actually the 'We'll kick your ass.' Part is true. My dad is a firefighter in Maryland and took a pic of the car when he saw it at a convention. However the 'and take your doughnuts too.' Was photoshopped on at a later day when the car was posted online. Genius, that's what it is.


	3. Darkest before Dawn

The Chief narrowed his eyes, "So what are you telling me Quick

Misao-CG: Um……I have the sudden urge to both meet, and never meet your boyfriend. XD I mean….he's like Ratchet so part of me is like…. YAY and another part of me wants to run for cover…ya know? Thank's for the review!

Lunarstar252: Thanks for pointing out my little lack of detail. Sometimes from thought to typing things get…forgotten 

Tomorrow4eva: Glad you've enjoyed it so far, despite my linguistic errors. Sometime my mind decides a word should go in a certain place 'just because' XD as you pointed out in Chapter one. Edited! At least it should be…

ViolentBidGrl: Glad you like it so far, shouldn't be too much longer before giant robots start to show themselves. Promise!

Shooting2stars: Glad you think so. As for Sadie being a target for the criminal(s)….well all depends really, is there one bad guy? Or several? In either case what's the true target? Etc. etc. etc. bwahaha.

**Author's Notes:** So does anyone have anything to say about Prowl? Or am I messing him up that bad? --; that wouldn't be surprising, I don't have much practice with him.

Also I am so sorry this took so long! One of the dogs chewed up my laptop's power cord and I just can't be creative on the desktop, it's impossible. Took FOREVER to get a new cord with my product replacement plan, and then that one was defective so I had to wait for ANOTHER one sigh.

Also, don't know if anyone reading this had read my other fic, but I'm wondering if you prefer the larger chapters, or smaller ones?

Posted: 7/22/08

--

The Chief narrowed his eyes, "So what are you telling me Quick? You accusing a Sergeant of-"

She frowned in response, "I'm not accusing anyone! All I'm trying to say is that stuff is missing."

"Stuff being evidence." He stated for clarification and briefly she wondered if she was really talking to the police Chief or a monkey trained to repeat her phrases.

"Yes sir, things connected to the Edwards case."

He sighed and nodded, these recent murder cases had been nothing but trouble for him, "You boxed up the evidence?"

"Yes sir."

"You brought it back to the station?"

She frowned, "Jacobs offered to pack up…"

"And we're back at pointing fingers."

Her frown became defensive, "I'm not saying he did anything! Just that, sometime between when I boxed everything up, and when we began to pull everything out in the lab, things have disappeared!"

"Things." He copied again, "Do you have a list?"

She fidgeted, "The…the catalog is missing as well." Every crime scene had a catalog, listing, sorting and labeling evidence to keep things organized in the lab. She couldn't even tell what exactly was missing without it. "I can name a few things…but without the catalog…" she shook her head, "This is worse than the Murphy case!"

Indeed, the Murphy case had been nothing but a thorn in the station's side. For starters, a twelve year old girl had been both raped and murdered right in the station's preverbal back yard. On top of that it appeared that due to mishandling by a few of the stations newest recruits the DNA samples collected had been contaminated, making them inadmissible to court.

"Are you suggesting these two incidents are related?" His tone was on edge, clearly warning her against it. Suggestions like that would cause an internal investigation to be launched and could easily lead to the destruction of several careers.

"No…just…" She struggled to find another excuse as she'd certainly got the hint, "They're unfortunate."

He watched her for a second before nodding, "Yeah, unfortunate alright. Listen Quick, works been tough on you since your shift change." She frowned, not liking where he was going with this. "And you still haven't passed the PA, so I'm going to move you back to midnights." Her frown became permanent at what he was saying. "Think about it this way, if there is a problem with you, or Jacobs at least we'll know who. Besides, you'll get to be Lead CSI, that's what you wanted right?" Certainly, she wanted Lead CSI, of the day crew, the respectable, experienced, day crew, not the newbie night crew. "You'll get your own office and everything. Take the office next to Fuentez, it'll be cleared out by your shift tomorrow. So take the rest of the day off and get a fresh start then."

Frown still present she was silent for several seconds, struggling internally on how to respond. After nearly a minute of silence she sighed, "Yes sir." He seemed to be waiting for more, "Thank you sir." Turning she made her exit from the office, trying to keep a lid on the anger she'd curbed seconds prior.

Heading for her desk she only frowned at the smiling face that caught up with her, "Not now Alex." The mentioned male was another station regular, ten years on the force, he was definitely one of the nicer Detectives. Alex Fuentez, well at least she'd have an office next to one nice guy, though that also meant her office would have to be sandwiched between his and Prowl's corner office. Lucky bastard. Pausing to collect her things she glanced up at him when he went to speak. "I'm really not in the mood Alex."

"Yeah kinda figured that, using my first name and all." Commonly enough, last names were used rather than firsts in the station. "You alright?"

"I'm pissed."

The middle aged Detective nodded a little seeming to think it over, "Could be worse."

"Could be better."

"CSI Quick." Unaware of his impending doom, being a male who approached a rather angered female, Prowl made his presence known.

"Not now Prowl." She didn't even bother to look up as she shoved personal items as well as office items into always present, empty evidence crate at the side of her desk. Those things really came in handy for toting stuff around.

The Detective blinked, finding the situation odd, much like a gazelle, unaware of the lion in the brush, he continued, "I have a problem concerning the Edwards case, from what I underst-"

"Prowl. I'm off duty. You can take your problem and shove it where the sun doesn't shine." With that she grabbed her crate and cell phone and made her way around the somewhat stunned male.

"Hey…Sadie. Come on…Don't go getting yourself in trouble like that-" Frowning a bit at how things had progressed Alex chased after her, hoping to keep her from insulting another superior.

In the wake of her aggression Prowl was left to ponder the situation.

Outside Sadie had calmed considerably after retelling her tale to Alex, he'd listened as both of them had leaned against the short cement wall around the parking lot. It was only three feet high and utterly useless in keeping people out, but the state demanded they have it.

"Alright, now what's the bright side again?" Alex questioned, his smiling drawing one from the CSI beside him.

"I don't have to deal with Jacobs anymore."

He rolled his eyes with a brief chuckle, "And?"

"And…my truck is fixed." During the rant about her current situation she'd noticed that the station's CSI suv assigned to her was back in the log again. Alex mentioned hearing in passing that the repairs had been finished, and it only took twice as long as expected.

"See? It's not so bad. Besides you always were better suited for the night life. On top of that, you do get bragging rights for being the first person to tell Prowl off."

At that she groaned, as if suddenly remembering the comment she'd made an hour prior. Hands covering her face she slid down along the length of the wall until she was sitting on the cement ground of the parking lot. "Please don't remind me. In fact, forget it ever happened, maybe if we all pretend it never happened Prowl will think he just imagined it."

He smiled once more at her antics before slowly pushing away from the wall, turning towards her he held out a hand to help her up, "Prowl's a very….understanding individual…I'm sure he'll forgive and forget, now you stop worrying. Just head home and get yourself a good day's sleep and I'll see you tomorrow night."

Returning the smile she accepted the help and let him help pull her up, "Yeah, when you're clocking out and I'm punching in." She responded dryly, but the smile remained none the less. A few more verbal jabs later found Sadie at her car, waving the Detective off as he headed back towards the station.

Alex was right, she decided as she started her car and headed for the surface streets. Perhaps going back on nights wasn't such a bad move. After all, if she was working at night her mind would be on her job, instead of on the event that had occurred nearly…well now that she actually thought about it, it had been eight months, nearly a year ago.

One might think that time would blur the memories, but no, she had a feeling that night would forever be etched in her mind.


End file.
